Is Your Emotional Absence Shaping Your Child’s View of Joy? 

Parenting Perspective 

Yes, children do notice joy, and they also notice its quiet absence. But what you are really asking is not whether your child sees you happy, but whether there is room for you to feel alive again, even within the load you carry. And that is a necessary question and it shows that you care. 

Children learn what joy looks like not only through our celebrations, but also through our pace, our tone, our presence. When life becomes full of duties and noise, it is natural for lightness to fade into the background. But joy does not require grand gestures. Sometimes, reclaiming joy starts with slowing down enough to notice what you are moving past. 

How to Bring Joy Back into Your Home 

You do not have to return to dancing in the kitchen to bring joy back into your home. Perhaps you can pause for an extra moment while stirring the soup or humming to a nasheed you love while folding clothes. These are not acts of performance for your child; they are acts of alignment for your soul. Children pick up on these subtle cues. When a parent breathes with intention, joy has a chance to re-enter. 

Make Space for What You Love 

If silence feels like a default rather than a choice, consider making space, even just once a week, to do one small thing you used to love. It may feel awkward at first. But consistency will help you remember that your emotional presence is not an extra for your child. It is a form of belonging they carry inside them. 

Children do not need a constantly cheerful parent but they do search for a parent who cares for them. When you return to yourself, even in small ways, you are giving your child permission to hold on to what is meaningful, and to make space for their own joy. 

Spiritual Insight 

In parenting, especially mothering, emotional stillness can quietly grow from long durations of service, fatigue, and responsibility. Islam does not overlook this inner reality. Rather, it acknowledges the complex rhythms of the human heart, its quiet sadness, its hope, and its capacity for renewal. The noble Qur’an speaks directly to those in emotional heaviness, pairing every difficulty with a divine assurance of relief. 

The Divine Reassurance of Ease 

Allah Almighty states in the noble Quran at Surah Al Inshirah (94), verses 5–6: 

‘Thus with (every) hardship there is facilitation (from Allah Almighty). Indeed, with (every) hardship there is facilitation (from Allah Almighty).’ 

 
This repetition emphasises the acknowledgement that struggle and relief are both part of the human condition. Your current season of silence is not permanent. Islamically, joy is not frivolous. It is a spiritual provider that strengthens patience, connection, and gratitude. 

The Prophetic Model: The Value of Consistency 

It is recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari that the holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: 

‘The most beloved of deeds to Allah are those that are most consistent, even if they are small.  ‘

[Sahih al-Bukhari, 6465] 

Even a small act of reclaiming your joy, done sincerely and regularly, has weight with Allah and impact on your family. Emotional absence does not need to define your motherhood. Each day gives you a new door through which you can return, not to how things were, but to how things could be, with softness, presence, and renewed meaning.